Very angry and anxious!

[Catherine Spark]

Just interested to know - are most reptiles bar turtles strictly prohibited because they eat rodents? Or is it more that allowing reptile-keeping encourages illegal live feeding that they can't control? That seems fair enough actually, surprisingly so. What about tarantulas? Sorry if my interest seems morbid - just curious about the laws.

And yes, whatever the law, dispicable way to treat a breeder that clearly cares about their animals. He probably absolutely dotes on that iguana, but still, illegal or no it is not the only pet in the world and he needs to learn not to act like it is.

[kiania]

Not sure if it's been mentioned (skimmed the thread), but if he's feeding to his reptile, and it is illegal to live-feed, he's killing/freezing the rodents first ('perfectly acceptable' to feed dead rodents to reptiles - rodent eating species have to eat too!). It is the reason why putting cheap rodents on websites (preloved and gumtree being the main ones in the UK at least) is pet suicide

That said, for £35, he'd be paying an awful lot for well bred 'feeder' animals, you can get them so much cheaper (living rodents as well as frozen, morbid as it is!).

But it does seem like your screening process works, and I'm sure there are plenty of genuine buyers who'd be as shocked as you.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Er... The only reason this surprises me is because of how much they cost. Rats and mice are "food" to probably nearly as many people as they're "pets". Even if reptiles are illegal as pets where you are, it is something I think most rat/mice breeders will encounter sooner or later. At least he didn't lie about it when it came to the truth.
Fortunately other rodents are less used as food, but even then it is a risk

Its a shame it upset you so much though.

[Vectis Hamstery]

Congratulations on your ratty babies! As has already been mentioned, your screening is obviously effective since you picked up this man (if he was genuine rather then trying to cause distress - "trolling"). I've had unsuitable people contact me for my baby hamsters and have turned them down, but the genuine excellent homes that have taken my babies have more than made up for the upsetting/ offensive/ demanding messages

[LittleElvis]

I understand your concern, and its awful that he lied to you and wanted to buy a pup of yours to feed to his lizard! But I'm glad this topic came up because I recently saw a youtube video of a guy that owns a bunch of snakes and is breeding rats by the hundreds.
I get that snakes eat rodents, they need to eat too. But I think it is wrong and sick to breed rodents this way. They are crammed in tiny cages and forced to breed constantly, the rats he uses for breeding are pregnant literally all the time. At least some people give their mother rats time to rest and let their rats and mice live comfortably in roomy cages, I can't even begin to express my rage over the fact that he keeps 50 or so mice in a plastic bin. This is animal abuse. I just really want to be able to do something. Do you guys have any ideas?

[Fullmoonnight]

I thought Iguanas were herbivores?

[kiania]

Originally Posted by Fullmoonnight

I thought Iguanas were herbivores?

They are.
Iguana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Lougarry]

Maybe it was a monitor? Wikipedia says monitors require only the occasional rodent for calcium. It increasingly sounds like a lie though...

[p_anda]

Wait, now I realise that he wanted to feed a rat to his iguana, I thought he had a snake and an iguana? I misread your post...as someone else pointed out iguanas are herbivores, maybe he doesn't even know what specie of lizard he has, that's quite worrying. If he indeed has a monitor, they can be even bigger than iguanas. But I thought monitors mainly eat other smaller lizards, fish or birds and not rodents?